We made it! (Israel, day 0)
Dec. 24th, 2008 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhu24 hours ago we got in the cab to Logan. Uneventful cab ride, uneventful checkin. We ate our sandwiches, then I took the kids to the play area, which turns out to have been in a connected terminal. While we were there, they announced that our flight to JFK was significantly delayed, and offered Heather four seats on the 5:30 Delta Shuttle instead. So she shlepped our carryons to the kids play area (fortunately, we were already heading back) and we dashed to the Delta Shuttle, which we took to LGA. That was followed by a nerve-wracking cab ride to JFK (because of course it was rush hour) and a frantic re-checkin at JFK. The crowd at baggage check was pure New York -- aggressive, but met with equal New York attitude from the staff, who weren't taking any line-cutting from anyone. The computer wouldn't print new tags for our suitcases, but they still had their original tags from before we were rerouted so the baggage agent just took them and put them on the conveyor belt.
Then it was back through security, and our flight to Israel was already boarding. I foolishly assumed that since we were already through security I could buy water; it turns out there was a second security pass to get onto the Jetway, and since I didn't get a receipt for the bottles of water I had purchased 2 minutes earlier, we had to toss them. Pfui.
An uneventful flight. We got in about half an hour early. We flew Delta, but in many ways it was as Jewish a flight as El Al would have been. In the "Welcome Aboard" announcement they ended with "Happy Chanukah" and didn't even mention the other holiday that happens this week. At one point when a child was wailing, the attendant got on the PA and cooed, "Imaleh, Abbeleh" (Hebrew for "Mommy, Daddy") until the child giggled. And when we landed, the first thing the flight attendant said on the PA was "Shehechayanu vikiyimanu vihigianu laz'man hazeh" (which I don't think was a comment on the piloting.) So I had warm fuzzies.
In general, I was extremely favorably impressed by Delta's staff and the initiative they took to solve problems. Originally, one of our seat assignments for the BOS->JFK leg had gotten lost, and all I could do when I printed my boarding pass was get a seat for Tani 7 rows behind us. The gate agent took care of it in a couple of minutes; then she took the initiative to call us up and reroute us when the flight's delay would jeopardize our connection. Somehow, even though I'd called on Sunday to reconfirm our kosher meals, the list they had on the plane didn't include us --- and yet, they had extra kosher meals on board and were able to serve us. And this is the first time I've had kosher airline food that wasn't horrible --- they use Weiss, not Wilton, and the meals were fresh, not frozen. What a difference!
So we landed, went through the slowest of the passport lines, got our bags, went through the express lane at Customs, connected with our dear friends J&J, with whom we're staying, picked up the rental car --- and they had baskets of sufganiot on the counter of the car place --- and then we went out for pizza in Modi'in. Yep, the same place where a little over 2,000 years ago a small local family nicknamed the Maccabees started the rebellion that we now celebrate with foods made from cheese and oil, and we went there for pizza.
And now we're here, and getting settled in.
So far, the most striking thing is the matter-of-factness about Chanukah. Everyone's celebrating it, but it's just kinda there.
Unfortunately, with all the excitement, we forgot to take any pictures today. Oh, well.
Then it was back through security, and our flight to Israel was already boarding. I foolishly assumed that since we were already through security I could buy water; it turns out there was a second security pass to get onto the Jetway, and since I didn't get a receipt for the bottles of water I had purchased 2 minutes earlier, we had to toss them. Pfui.
An uneventful flight. We got in about half an hour early. We flew Delta, but in many ways it was as Jewish a flight as El Al would have been. In the "Welcome Aboard" announcement they ended with "Happy Chanukah" and didn't even mention the other holiday that happens this week. At one point when a child was wailing, the attendant got on the PA and cooed, "Imaleh, Abbeleh" (Hebrew for "Mommy, Daddy") until the child giggled. And when we landed, the first thing the flight attendant said on the PA was "Shehechayanu vikiyimanu vihigianu laz'man hazeh" (which I don't think was a comment on the piloting.) So I had warm fuzzies.
In general, I was extremely favorably impressed by Delta's staff and the initiative they took to solve problems. Originally, one of our seat assignments for the BOS->JFK leg had gotten lost, and all I could do when I printed my boarding pass was get a seat for Tani 7 rows behind us. The gate agent took care of it in a couple of minutes; then she took the initiative to call us up and reroute us when the flight's delay would jeopardize our connection. Somehow, even though I'd called on Sunday to reconfirm our kosher meals, the list they had on the plane didn't include us --- and yet, they had extra kosher meals on board and were able to serve us. And this is the first time I've had kosher airline food that wasn't horrible --- they use Weiss, not Wilton, and the meals were fresh, not frozen. What a difference!
So we landed, went through the slowest of the passport lines, got our bags, went through the express lane at Customs, connected with our dear friends J&J, with whom we're staying, picked up the rental car --- and they had baskets of sufganiot on the counter of the car place --- and then we went out for pizza in Modi'in. Yep, the same place where a little over 2,000 years ago a small local family nicknamed the Maccabees started the rebellion that we now celebrate with foods made from cheese and oil, and we went there for pizza.
And now we're here, and getting settled in.
So far, the most striking thing is the matter-of-factness about Chanukah. Everyone's celebrating it, but it's just kinda there.
Unfortunately, with all the excitement, we forgot to take any pictures today. Oh, well.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-24 07:51 pm (UTC)I'd love to read an analysis of the differences between modern Diaspora and Israeli Judaism, and what it means to people to not have to think of themselves as different, what effect that has. Because when you tell the story about the plane, and about the matter-of-factness of Hanukkah, I just keep thinking how nice it would be and yet how different to be normative like that.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-24 08:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-25 01:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-25 05:41 am (UTC)